April 3, 2016

As we noted over the weekend, WWE has officially signed Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano to NXT deals. The two had been appearing on NXT TV for several months prior to being signed.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, Ciampa and Gargano are actually signed to WWE NXT touring contracts, which differ from regular WWE developmental deals. The two will not be based in Orlando and will not be required to work out at the WWE Performance Center, but neither of them are allowed to work the indy scene.

With regards to Bobby Roode and Kota Ibushi, Meltzer speculates Bobby Roode will be offered a similar deal to that of Ciampa and Gargano, while Kota Ibushi could end up with a regular deal like the one offered to Shinsuke Nakamura. Ibushi’s deal would likely be for less money, however.

In related news, there appears to be some second-guessing with regards to experienced talents like Rich Swann and Biff Busick, as the two are doing developmental tasks like drills and ring crew work. This may have something to do with the type of deals Gargano and Ciampa signed, although that has yet to be confirmed.

The Swann/Busick argument could be made for an experienced talent like Manny Andrade, fka La Sombra, but he has yet to learn the US style of wrestling at the Performance Center.